Just received email. Boarding Majestic Princess on Thursday delayed by 3 hours

[korky1]

I was really looking forward to boarding Majestic at noon this Thursday and had decided for the first time ever to have lunch in the MDR.  Talk about the best-laid plans of mice and men.  Ha! Ha!  Now we can't board until 3pm so bang goes that idea.

 

Ah well, it is what it is.  Hopefully we will get boarding about 3pm.  I will dress a bit smarter than I usually would for getting on board as I doubt we will see our suitcases before dining so may not be able to change for dinner.  Hoping the actual cruise is drama free.

 

 

[arxcards]

A better notification than ours. We had been standing around for an hour after scheduled embarkation, before getting a text message saying embarkation would be delayed an hour.

 

As a possible plan B, Alfredo's pizza is 11am till 11pm, and a nice relaxed lunch spot. It is also right next to the best bar on the ship, and you might need one by the time you get aboard.

 

Elevated covid on the current cruise does throw a few spanners into the disembarkation. Hopefully plain sailing once you get aboard.

Edited December 6, 2022 by arxcards

[korky1]

mmmm.  Next to the best bar on the ship?.  We will definitely be going there!  Have to enjoy our standard drinks package. 

[arxcards]

4 minutes ago, korky1 said:

mmmm.  Next to the best bar on the ship?.  We will definitely be going there!  Have to enjoy our standard drinks package. 

Good Spirits. Leny will help you get the most out of your package.

[buchhalm]

Well, a few days ago two large ships that were (according to the schedule from Sydney ports) to leave at 4 pm, didn't leave until after 9pm.

So basically a whole day of cruising gone. And perhaps  wasted day of drinks package 

[MicCanberra]

12 minutes ago, buchhalm said:

Well, a few days ago two large ships that were (according to the schedule from Sydney ports) to leave at 4 pm, didn't leave until after 9pm.

So basically a whole day of cruising gone. And perhaps  wasted day of drinks package 

I am sure that people still drink enough to make up for a delayed boarding.

[MicCanberra]

9 hours ago, korky1 said:

I was really looking forward to boarding Majestic at noon this Thursday and had decided for the first time ever to have lunch in the MDR.  Talk about the best-laid plans of mice and men.  Ha! Ha!  Now we can't board until 3pm so bang goes that idea.

 

Ah well, it is what it is.  Hopefully we will get boarding about 3pm.  I will dress a bit smarter than I usually would for getting on board as I doubt we will see our suitcases before dining so may not be able to change for dinner.  Hoping the actual cruise is drama free.

 

 

I would rather board late knowing the ship is cleaned and Covid free than find out 3 days later that I have Covid.

Have a nice lunch with some drinks in the OPT area, the harbour foreshore or in the rocks, relax and board feeling stressful knowing the ship is clean.

 

[MicCanberra]

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

I would rather board late knowing the ship is cleaned and Covid free than find out 3 days later that I have Covid.

Have a nice lunch with some drinks in the OPT area, the harbour foreshore or in the rocks, relax and board feeling stressful knowing the ship is clean.

 

Lol, it should say stress free not stress ful.

[possum52]

41 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Lol, it should say stress free not stress ful.

I picked that up Mic and had a giggle. 🤣

[bretts173]

Exact same thing Ovation today. Maybe time to get some new procedures considering this is now a regular occurrence.

[MicCanberra]

1 hour ago, bretts173 said:

Exact same thing Ovation today. Maybe time to get some new procedures considering this is now a regular occurrence.

Like starting every boarding at 3pm perhaps.

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, bretts173 said:

Exact same thing Ovation today. Maybe time to get some new procedures considering this is now a regular occurrence.

Check the NSW site. If your ship is not listed or tier 1, it will be as smooth as. If the ship is tier 2 or above, as Ovation is today, expect a significantly delayed boarding.

[bretts173]

25 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Check the NSW site. If your ship is not listed or tier 1, it will be as smooth as. If the ship is tier 2 or above, as Ovation is today, expect a significantly delayed boarding.

Can understand how this delays boarding but any insight on why it delays departing the ship by 2 hours.

[arxcards]

31 minutes ago, bretts173 said:

Can understand how this delays boarding but any insight on why it delays departing the ship by 2 hours.

The slow disembarkation is the root cause, and delayed boarding is a flow-on from that. 

 

When there is elevated covid aboard, borderforce and state officials are pragmatic with ensuring all the documentation is sorted, and that all infected passengers have a plan for onward travel or medical attention if needed. There has been a number of days recently when the clearance by authorities has taken an extra couple of hours, and even longer in Melbourne.  Nobody can leave the ship until that clearance is granted. Also on these days, they are unable to offload any suitcases while the ship is being cleared, so the staggered disembark is slowed even more by waiting for bags to hit the terminal.

 

Delayed boarding is not because of extra cleaning & sanitising. Most of that is ongoing.

[Wombat706]

We received an email for our Nov 2022 boarding on Celebrity Eclipse saying it would be delayed by 2 hours because it would be late arriving due to rough seas on the crossing from NZ.  We then received another saying it would be delayed by 3 hours.  The ship actually arrived about 5 hours late and then about 16 passengers refused to get off the ship. So it was a frustrating afternoon.  I think we boarded about 4 hours late.

[OzKiwiJJ]

31 minutes ago, Wombat706 said:

We received an email for our Nov 2022 boarding on Celebrity Eclipse saying it would be delayed by 2 hours because it would be late arriving due to rough seas on the crossing from NZ.  We then received another saying it would be delayed by 3 hours.  The ship actually arrived about 5 hours late and then about 16 passengers refused to get off the ship. So it was a frustrating afternoon.  I think we boarded about 4 hours late.

What is it with people who do that? It's happened to me twice now:

- In 2019 we stood outside the OPT in heavy rain for an hour waiting for Border Force to allow embarking passengers into the terminal. The delay was caused by four passengers deciding that they didn't have to go through passport control. 

- In September this year, on a B2B, we sat in the cruise terminal for over an hour before being allowed back onboard because two passengers decided that they didn't have to leave the ship to clear Customs. At least that time we didn't have to wait outside in the cold.

[Aussieflyer]

18 hours ago, arxcards said:

Good Spirits. Leny will help you get the most out of your package.

But I miss Crooners. The bars on Majestic have really limited seating and I found the staff were less than proactive in taking orders unless you were sitting at the bar.

[arxcards]

56 minutes ago, Aussieflyer said:

But I miss Crooners. The bars on Majestic have really limited seating and I found the staff were less than proactive in taking orders unless you were sitting at the bar.

We made a point of trying to get a seat at the bar. I agree on the seating though. The old Crooners Bar at the back of the casino had ample seating most of the time, but found it boring unless we had a need to be watching the screens. We didn't like the space, but would wait it out there from time to time till we could get a seat at Good Spirits.

 

I miss Crooners too, but it would often run out of seats there on Coral as well.

[Aussieflyer]

Majestic has been designated Level 2 so there will be impacts to disembarkation and flow on to boarding.

[austromyrtus]

4 hours ago, Aussieflyer said:

But I miss Crooners. The bars on Majestic have really limited seating and I found the staff were less than proactive in taking orders unless you were sitting at the bar.

just a thought... wonder if anyone has looked at whether those princess passengers on drink packages have been more prone to testing positive to getting covid than those who have the occasional drink & spend less time in the bars??

[arxcards]

19 minutes ago, austromyrtus said:

just a thought... wonder if anyone has looked at whether those princess passengers on drink packages have been more prone to testing positive to getting covid than those who have the occasional drink & spend less time in the bars??

I wondered the same.

Not just hanging around strangers in bars, but how 11 days on a drink package might contribute toward dulling your general immunity.

[gbenjo]

21 hours ago, buchhalm said:

Well, a few days ago two large ships that were (according to the schedule from Sydney ports) to leave at 4 pm, didn't leave until after 9pm.

So basically a whole day of cruising gone. And perhaps  wasted day of drinks package 

How is 5 hours a whole day of cruising? Pax would still have been on board by about 5 pm or earlier.

[MicCanberra]

Yes, it is all relative, 5 hours is alot if trying to hold your breath but minimal if how long it takes to raise a Galapagos tortoise to adulthood.

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, gbenjo said:

How is 5 hours a whole day of cruising? Pax would still have been on board by about 5 pm or earlier.

If you get a 2 1/2hr delay at the end of the cruise, they will be 1/2 making it up to them.

[calwriter]

We’re waiting to disembark majestic now with the rest of pax who’ve tested positive despite consistent mask wearing, hand sanitizing and distancing. The location of your first drinks should not be your biggest concern, I suggest